2nd Peter Chapter 3
Originally posted Friday November 14, 2008
2nd Peter,
Chapter 3: The Promise of the Parousia
Peter has reminded the churches of Asia Minor of the
basis of their "call and election" as believers. He has warned them
of false teachers coming into their midst offering "destructive
opinions" regarding the Parousia. They are "accursed children,"
"waterless fountains" and like "irrational
animals" who have turned away from the "straight road." Now the
writer turns to the primary subject of the letter: a defense of the doctrine of
Christ's return.
The writer notes that this is his second letter to the
churches. He has written to arouse their "sincere thinking." He
reminds them of the words of the ancient Prophets (Amos 9:10; Mal. 2:17) and the commandments of Jesus (MT 7:15, 24:11) regarding false
teachers and prophets. These are the words preached by the
apostles who established their churches. He has already promised that he
will "keep on reminding" them of this rich heritage (2:12-15) and Chapter 3 is a fulfillment
of that promise.
What has happened with the coming of false teachers was a
prophesied expectation of the last days. The "scoffers' (those who
reject religion and morality) have arrived with their mocking questions
aimed at creating doubt that the promised Parousia will ever occur. It has not
happened even though at least three generations of Christian
ancestors have died (a generation would have been about 30 years). There is a
bit of truth in the scoffers' charges of deception and they no doubt used it in
their argument. There were numerous Old Testament prophecies of the Day of the
Lord when God would intervene in history on the side of Israel, judge and
destroy her enemies and restore David's kingdom. Also they certainly were aware
of MT. 16:28 and
parallels which refer to Jesus' words and from which
an expectation arose that Jesus would return before the first generation
of Christians had died. The expectation was a misunderstanding of what Jesus
meant but nonetheless it fed the misguided hope of an imminent return in each
succeeding generation (to this very day!). If that was not enough, there was
the added tradition (rumor?) that Christ would return before or near the
time when the last of the original twelve apostles died. That would
have occurred between four to six decades before this letter was
written.
The writer does not refer or respond to the scoffers'
arguments from the past. Rather he appeals to an understanding
of time by comparing time in transient human terms to God's eternal time.
God is not restricted to the constraints of chronological time. The name of
God, "Ehyeh asher ehyeh" has the quality of timelessness - "I am
that I am" and "I
will be what I will be." Peter presents the vast expanse of time from the
creation of the heavens and earth through God's word to their fiery end.
By that same word they will pass away in fire on the Day of Judgment
and the "destruction of the ungodly." (Destruction means an
annihilation in which the ungodly cease to exist - entering nothingness). For
God, time is endless and unmeasured. It is as if a thousand years were but one
dayand one day were a thousand
years at the same time (adapted from Ps.
90:4). The readers are urged not to think of the passing time as proof
of the scoffers' false teaching against the Parousia. Nor should they think of
it as God's slowness or lack of concern for the believers' suffering. Rather
they should understand the delay as God's patience, God's desire that no one
perish but that all will repent. Yet, the delay cannot cause a
dullness of "sincere thinking" to lead them into lowering their guard
against sin. The "Day of God" will come as Jesus said, "Like a
thief in the night" (MT 24:43-44and
parallels).
The writer's vision of the "Day of God" is one of
fire and the dissolution of the heavens and earth (not Paul's or Isaiah's
understanding of renewal through transformation). That which passes away
is to be replaced by new heavens and a new earth (the typical scenario in
a number of Jewish and Christian apocalyptic writings from 200 BCE to 300 CE).
If this is the future, the events of the Parousia and
judgment, how should the believers live their lives? Briefly put, because the
new heavens and the new earth will be a place where "righteousness is at
home" the believers' lives should reflect that new reality. As they wait
their lives should be examples of holiness and godliness, befitting their new
home to come. Indeed, the writer declares that by living such lives they will
actually hasten the "Day of God." This is not unlike the
Pharisees' concern in teaching the Jews to live lives of holiness according to
the holiness code. The more holy Israel became the sooner God's
Messiah would appear.
2nd Peter,
Chapter 3:14-18 Final Exhortation and Doxology
As the believers wait for the "Day of God" they
are urged to be "found by [Christ] at peace, without spot or
blemish" (the required condition for a sacrifice to God). They should
appreciate Christ's patience in returning as an opportunity to
prepare for salvation. In the only mention of Paul outside of Acts and
Paul's own letters, the writer credits him with a similar perspective on the
"Day of God," "according to [Paul's] wisdom" (Rom. 2:4, 8:18-19). He rightly
comments on the occasional difficulty of understanding Paul's reasoning as the
"ignorant and unstable" have done by forcing false interpretations
from his words. Note that the writer refers to Paul's words as "scripture.
By the end of the first century Paul's letters had been collected in codex
form and distributed throughout the Christian world (2 Tim. 4:13).
It is probable that the false teachers have taken Paul's
words - as they did with other scripture, and distorted them for their own
deceitful uses. This seems to be the sense of vs. 17 in which the ignorant and unstable persons who
misuse Paul's writings are a threat to the readers of this letter. They are
warned not "to be carried away" by the "error of the
lawless (false teachers) thereby becoming just like them.
________________________________________________________________________________________
Note
Peter makes an interesting and useful point about his
intention to continually remind the readers of their heritage. This heritage
includes an understanding of the scripture which consisted of the Greek Old
Testament and most of what we call the New Testament that would eventually
become the authoritative canon. It is to the detriment of any
church when Biblical literacy is low. The richness of scripture
requires dedicated study in order for it to become a word of
address that fashions our lives. It is one thing to read scripture
for the sheer enjoyment of the reading. It is quite another to study the
scripture as a source for entering into the disciplined life of a follower
of Jesus. We need to understand and not just read our heritage. We can do this
on our own but such an approach will never be quite as effective as the guided
group study which allows for measuring our own understands against that of
others. There are times when lives are changed by
an "aha" moment of enlightenment, when a single word of the
text comes alive or when an understanding of the culture or history
behind a text brings clarification. Study is important, perhaps critical,
if our desire is both to grow spiritually and to invest that
growth in the world God has called us to transform.
No comments:
Post a Comment